Arnold Zweig German writer Date of Birth: 10.11.1887 Country: Germany

Biography of Arnold Zweig

Arnold Zweig (10.11.1887, Groß-Glogau, now Glogow - 26.11.1968, Berlin) was a German writer and public figure. He served as a Member of the People's Chamber (1949-1967) and was the President of the German Academy of Arts (1950-1953). He was also a member of the World Peace Council.

Early Career and Exile:
Zweig participated in World War I from 1914 to 1918. After the war, his writing began to explore contemporary issues, often presented in an abstract and timeless manner. His early success came with the novella "Notes on the Klaphofer Family" (1911), the novel "Novels about Claudia" (1912, Russian translation 1923), which delved into the themes of art and the power of money, and the play "Ritual Murder in Hungary" (1914; Georg Büchner Prize, 1915).

Zweig went into exile following the rise of the Nazi regime in 1933. He lived in Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, France, and Palestine before eventually returning to Berlin in 1948.

Later Works:
In the post-World War I period, Zweig's writing began to focus on contemporary themes. In 1927, he published the novel "The Case of Lieutenant Grischa" (translated as "The Tragedy of Lieutenant Grischa", 1928), which served as the foundation for his epic cycle about World War I, "The Great War of the White Men," a work he continued to develop throughout his life.

The cycle opens with the novel "Time Has Ripened" (1957), covering the period from summer 1913 to spring 1915. "The Young Woman of 1914" (1931) and "Education under Verdun" (1935) bring the narrative up to March 1917, connecting with "The Case of Lieutenant Grischa." "Lull" (1954), "Ascending to the Throne" (1937), and the unfinished novel "The Ice Has Broken" depict the end of the war and the November Revolution of 1918. These works provide historically accurate descriptions of military operations and the daily lives of different social classes.

While in exile, Zweig created several significant works, including the novel "The Vandsbeck Axe" (published in 1943 in Hebrew, translated from the German manuscript), which explores the moral decay of the Hitler regime and exposes the petty-bourgeois elements that paved the way for fascism. In the novel "Dream Road" (1962), Zweig delves into the difficult process of German intellectuals coming to terms with their responsibility for the events of the fascist era.

Zweig was awarded the National Prize of East Germany (1950) and the International Lenin Peace Prize (1958) for his contributions to peace and literature.